More than 9,000 students in the Northshore School District will benefit from thousands of dollars being awarded to their schools and classrooms by the Northshore Schools Foundation.

Executive Director Carmin Dalziel and President Sherry Krainick presented a check for $80,100 to School Board President Julia Lacey and Superintendent Larry Francois at the school board meeting September 11.

Funds were raised during the 2011/12 school year through numerous programs presented by the Foundation including the Phone-a-thon, The Pour for Northshore, Light A Fire for Learning Luncheon, Retired NSD staff brunch, Milk Money community change drive, designated workplace giving and several other partnership events. Parents, families and businesses have all made charitable contributions in support of Northshore students providing access to the resources they need to pursue academic success and excellence in their school years and beyond.

“The Foundation exists to mobilize and support our students by ensuring they get the education they deserve, our parents expect and the workplace demands. We work to build partnerships between parents, community members and businesses that enhance the efforts of the district and that ultimately result in our students having the opportunity to achieve academic support and excellence in their lives,” said Director Carmin Dalziel.

The $80,100 funds were granted after a district-wide granting process which identified district needs that aligned with Foundation funding initiatives of Literacy, Advanced and Disadvantaged Learners, Teacher Excellence, Science, Technology, Engineering and Enhancement Programming. Funds from the grant will be directed to these key projects over the next school year:

• Career & College Readiness

• National Board Teacher Certification

• Community Schools

•Advanced Math Education

•Healthy Youth and McKinney Vento students

Eighteen thousand dollars of this grant is going directly to classroom teachers who have embarked on enhancing their lesson plans to innovatively incorporate new teaching strategies and projects while ensuring that students meet required benchmarks for learning.

“The innovative classroom grant process is one of our favorite things to fund,” Dalziel said. “It gives us an opportunity to support new thinking and creative ways of curriculum delivery. It’s exciting to invest in forward thinking.”

Additionally, $2,500 of this fall’s grant is a result of a partnership with the Northshore PTSA which has supported emergency preparedness in schools for the past decade.

Thanks to this partnership and Puget Sound Energy Foundation, three Woodinville Elementary schools will have shelves for their new emergency containers ensuring that supplies stay accessible and useable longer.